Decanter magazine August 2026 issue: See what's inside

Welcome to Decanter magazine’s August 2026 issue

DWWA 2026: The wine-world showcase

Leader by Simon Wright, Head of Awards

We are thrilled to share the results of the 23rd Decanter World Wine Awards.

Holding the world’s largest wine competition gives us – and all our judges and Chairs – an incredible wide-angle snapshot of the current wine landscape. It helps us to pinpoint – and share with you – the exceptional producers and exciting regions redefining the wines we’re able to drink today.

After 10 years overseeing the logistics side of the competition, this was my first year as Head of Awards. My new role gives me the opportunity to take a step back and gain a unique perspective on how Decanter’s various teams – from Events & Awards to Marketing, Sales and Editorial – collaborate on such a monumental operation.

From opening for entries in November right through to printing the bumper results issue that you hold in your hands now, immense care and craft are poured into what we all do.

On that theme of care and craft, the rigour and strength of the DWWA competition truly rests with our judges. We’re incredibly happy with the steps we took this year to reduce the average number of wines tasted daily (now no more than 75) by each panel. Giving our experts more time to focus on every tasting flight ensures you can have absolute confidence in the calibre of the wines featured in the pages that follow.

Indeed, in his introduction to this year’s results, Co-Chair Andrew Jefford emphasises the ‘uplift in the quality of entries overall’ seen by the judges, and highlights the final figures that reveal a notable increase in the proportion of Silver, Gold and Platinum awards achieved at DWWA 2026.

I hope you enjoy getting to know the diverse, exceptionally talented individuals who make up our judging panels, just as much as you enjoy exploring the delicious and deservedly awarded wines. Cheers!

Contents list: Inside Decanter magazine’s August 2026 issue

DWWA: Setting the scene

• Andrew Jefford The DWWA Co-Chair reflects on highlights and surprises of the competition in 2026
• This year in numbers A breakdown of medal winners in 2026, plus intel on this year’s 245 expert judges
• The judging process Discover how we conduct the tastings and choose the medal-winning wines, with an at-a-glance guide to the key stages of the competition
• Behind the scenes When not hard at work, our DWWA judges had a chance to taste other Golds (blind), to attend a special Coravin masterclass and to kick back and relax at the midweek party
• Meet the experts Introducing the talent behind the world’s biggest wine competition: our four Co-Chairs (plus Resident Co-Chair) and 37 Regional Chairs. We also list the judges and Senior Judges for each region

DWWA: The results

• Best in Show: wine profiles Full tasting notes, by Andrew Jefford, for the 50 wines from around the world that took top honours in 2026
• The Platinum medal-winners We present the 196 wines judged to be the best in their respective regions
• The Gold medal-winners The 924 Golds, listed alphabetically by region (Silver and Bronze winners can be found on Decanter.com)
• 35 Top Value Golds We highlight the Gold medal winners judged to offer the very best value, all priced at under £15 at the time of judging in May 2026
• Best in Show, again! We celebrate the six producers who’ve won Best in Show this year – for the second time in five years, for the same wine

DWWA: Shopping list

• UK shopper’s guide Your handy list of medal winners available on UK shelves

Collecting & investing

• Marketwatch Auction news and new releases
• Marketwatch The rise of white Burgundy

Regulars

• News The latest from the wine world
• The brief Ideas and inspiration
• Subscribe to Decanter
• On the rack: Ronan Sayburn MS The sommelier and DWWA Co-Chair talks to Amy Wislocki

DWWA 2026 Gold medals by region

• Alsace 100
• Argentina 101
• Asia 105
• Australia 106
• Austria 112
• Balkans 113
• Beaujolais 114
• Belgium 112
• Bordeaux 115
• Bosnia and Herzegovina 113
• Brazil 104
• Bulgaria 120
• Burgundy 116
• Canada 118
• Caucasus Regions 119
• Central & Eastern Europe 120
• Central Italy 123
• Champagne 124
• Chile 127
• China 105
• Croatia 128
• Czech Republic 120
• Georgia 119
• Germany 131
• Greece & Cyprus 132
• Hungary 120
• Israel 152
• Japan 106
• Languedoc-Roussillon 134
• Loire 136
• Moldova 122
• Montenegro 113
• New Zealand 137
• Northern Italy 139
• North Macedonia 113
• Piedmont 141
• Port & Madeira 142
• Portugal 144
• Provence 146
• Romania 122
• Rhône 148
• Serbia 113
• Sherry 149
• Slovenia 129
• South Africa 150
• Southern & Eastern Mediterranean 152
• Southern Italy 153
• Southwest & rest of France 154
• Spain 155
• Switzerland 162
• Turkey 152
• Tuscany 163
• United Kingdom 165
• Uruguay 104
• USA & Mexico 166
• Veneto 169

How to read the DWWA results

Wines are grouped into colour and/or type, in the order one might drink them with a meal: Sparkling, White, Rosé, Orange, Red, Sweet & Fortified.

Wines are identified by these colours: green (white wines), pink (rosés), orange (orange/amber wines), red (reds), golden (all sweet & fortified).

Within the Sparkling sections of each region, wines appear in colour order: white, rosé then red if applicable.

Profiles and tasting notes for all 50 Best in Show winners (the best of this year’s Platinum award winners) are listed from p37, with tasting notes for the Platinum winners (best of the Golds) from p61.

Within these categories, wines are listed by score, then alphabetically by producer name. From p99, we list the Gold medal winners by region. The Value and Top Value Gold wines are denoted by a V or G symbol within the listings; Top 35 Value Golds are also listed in one place, from p170.

Stockist and pricing details for Best in Show, Platinum and Gold medal-winning wines have been supplied by the producer, UK importer or submitter responsible for entering the wine.

We check these as carefully as possible, but cannot be held responsible for the accuracy of information provided. If no GBP price is shown, then there were no UK stockist listings found at the time of writing.

All tasting notes and price and stockist details for wines winning a Silver or Bronze medal can be found at decanter.com/decanter-awards. Wines that failed to win a DWWA medal have not been listed.

DWWA sponsors

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